Data Import, Export, and the Knowledge Center

Data has to get in and get out before a platform is useful. This chapter covers three things: bringing existing data in, taking data out, and turning enterprise documents into knowledge that AI and applications can search.

1. Intelligent data import

Entry point: Dashboard → Data Center → Data Import. Requires system.data_import.

Traditional import tools require you to reshape your source files into the target format first. AI GO inverts that — you supply raw files and AI handles the mapping.

Supported sources

• Multiple CSV files
• Excel workbooks
• JSON files
• Direct database connections

Multiple files can be uploaded at once, and that matters: in practice a complete dataset is usually spread across several tables (a customer master here, contacts there, transactions elsewhere), and the import engine handles the merge relationships between them.

The import flow

1. Upload and parse — the system parses structure and profiles each column (type inference, value distribution, null ratio)
2. AI mapping — AI analyzes semantic similarity between source columns and target columns and proposes mappings. Candidate targets include both built-in ERP tables and your custom tables
3. Review — you confirm or adjust the mapping. The review interface flags:
   • Whether every required column has a source (warns if not)
   • A suggested deduplication key, so re-importing doesn't create duplicate rows
   • Columns or tables that need to be created
4. Execute — writes run in the background in batches. Failed rows are isolated with detail, so one bad row does not fail the batch

Where imports land

The engine can write to three kinds of target:

• Existing ERP tables (through the same guardrails as the API)
• Existing custom tables
• Newly created custom tables, when the source has no counterpart on the platform

In other words, import doesn't only populate data — it can build out the data model along the way.

2. Data export

Entry point: Dashboard → Data Center → My Exports.

Export ERP tables and custom tables to JSON or CSV. Exports run asynchronously — submit and leave the page; completion arrives through the notification center, and files download from My Exports.

Large exports run on a background work queue, so they neither hold your session nor slow anyone else's queries.

Exporting from an application

A Custom App action can produce a CSV download directly:

def execute(ctx):
    rows = ctx.db.query('sale_orders', filters=[...])
    ctx.csv.export(rows, columns=['name', 'amount_total', 'state'],
                   filename='orders.csv')

ctx.response.file() returns arbitrary file content the same way.

3. Notification center

Export completion, approval tasks, and system events land in the notification center. It is the platform's unified event outlet — rather than every feature emailing separately, events collect in one place.

4. The Knowledge Center

Entry point: Dashboard → Knowledge Center (a top-level item alongside the Data Center). Requires files.access.

The Knowledge Center stores enterprise documents with a familiar cloud-drive interface — folders, upload, rename, delete, batch operations.

What makes it different: any file can be marked as knowledge, which turns it into a retrievable source for AI and applications.

Marking a file as knowledge

Right-click a file and choose "set as knowledge". The system indexes it into your organization's dedicated vector store. Once processing completes, the file shows a knowledge marker.

From that point:

• The AI assistant automatically retrieves from the document when answering
• Custom Apps can search it through the SDK

To remove it, right-click and choose "unset as knowledge". The file leaves the retrieval set but remains in the Knowledge Center.

Supported formats

• Supported: .pdf, .docx, .xlsx, .csv, .txt, .json, .md, .zip, and similar document and code files
• Not supported: media and vector image files (.mp4, .mp3, .wav, .svg, etc.) are blocked
• Folders cannot be marked as a whole — enter the folder and set individual files

File-level access policies

Every file has its own access policy, with four options:

The policy governs both UI visibility and AI retrieval. A file you lack access to behaves as if it does not exist in search results — no snippets, no filenames.

Set it by right-clicking a file or folder and opening access settings. Folder policies are inherited by files set to "inherit".

5. Searching knowledge from a Custom App

This is the Knowledge Center's most important capability for developers: applications can search enterprise knowledge and generate their own responses.

def execute(ctx):
    hits = ctx.knowledge.search(ctx.params['question'], top_k=5,
                                score_threshold=0.5)

    if not hits['enabled']:
        return ctx.response.json({'answer': 'No enterprise knowledge configured'})

    # results are chunk-level, each with a relevance score and source filename
    context = "\n\n".join(
        f"[{r['filename']}] {r['content']}" for r in hits['results']
    )

    # Fetch the full document when snippets aren't enough
    # full = ctx.knowledge.get_content(hits['results'][0]['file_id'])

    ctx.response.json({'context': context})

Three design points:

1. Retrieval only, no generation. ctx.knowledge.search returns source passages and relevance scores and calls no language model. To produce an answer, call your own model from inside the action using a key stored in App Secrets, passing the results as context. Generation cost and model choice stay entirely under your control.
2. Permissions apply automatically. Results are filtered by caller identity: internal apps filter by the triggering user's roles; external apps can only reach "external-visible" files; scheduled calls with no user context are treated as a member with no roles.
3. Only your organization's files. Deleted files and files belonging to other organizations are excluded unconditionally.

Retrieval requires the knowledge.read scope, which is high-risk — granting it requires the owner to re-enter their password (Chapter 10).